, 2010). Recently, it has been shown that the pulvinar regulates information transmission between different cortical areas according to behavioral demands (Saalmann et al., 2012). The neural mechanism involves the pulvinar controlling the degree of synchrony between the activities of groups of cortical neurons, thereby increasing the efficacy of their information exchange. In light of such a pulvino-cortical mechanism (and regardless of whether the pulvinar receives face-related input from either the visual cortex or the SC, or both), it may well be that the pulvinar facilitates the processing

of faces by selectively routing the relevant face-like information across the cortex. The fast pulvinar responses may allow very early modulation of feed-forward cortico-cortical selleck products transmission of social information, possibly by setting up oscillation patterns between groups of cortical neurons before the majority

of detailed content from the geniculo-striate path arrives. Importantly, the current study sets the stage for exploring these different possibilities in order to firmly establish a functional role of the pulvinar in face processing and social cognition. “
“Evidence suggests than human time perception is likely to reflect an ensemble of recent temporal experience. For example, prolonged exposure to consistent IWR-1 clinical trial temporal patterns can adaptively realign the perception of event order, both within and between sensory modalities (e.g. Fujisaki et al., 2004 Nat. Neurosci., 7, 773–778). In addition, the observation that ‘a watched pot never boils’ serves to illustrate the fact that dynamic shifts in our attentional state can also produce marked distortions in our temporal estimates. In the current study we provide evidence for a hitherto unknown link between adaptation, temporal perception and our attentional state. We show that our ability to use recent

sensory history as a perceptual baseline for ongoing Forskolin research buy temporal judgments is subject to striking top-down modulation via shifts in the observer’s selective attention. Specifically, attending to the temporal structure of asynchronous auditory and visual adapting stimuli generates a substantial increase in the temporal recalibration induced by these stimuli. We propose a conceptual framework accounting for our findings whereby attention modulates the perceived salience of temporal patterns. This heightened salience allows the formation of audiovisual perceptual ‘objects’, defined solely by their temporal structure. Repeated exposure to these objects induces high-level pattern adaptation effects, akin to those found in visual and auditory domains (e.g. Leopold & Bondar (2005) Fitting the Mind to the World: Adaptation and Aftereffects in High-Level Vision.